Heel (professional wrestling)

In wrestling, a heel is a villain character. Heels are portrayed as behaving in an immoral manner, breaking rules or otherwise taking advantage of their opponents outside of the bounds of the rules of the match. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are often the "bad guys" in pro wrestling storylines. They are typically opposed by a face (crowd favorite). Some tweeners exhibit heel mannerisms.

The term "heel" is most likely is derived from a slang usage of the word that first appeared around 1914, meaning "contemptible person". The Spanish term, used in lucha libre, is "rudo".

Common heel behaviour includes cheating to win (e.g., using the ropes for leverage while pinning or attacking with foreign objects such as folding chairs while the referee is looking away), attacking other wrestlers backstage, interfering with other wrestlers' matches, and acting in a haughty or superior manner.

Once in awhile, faces who have recently turned from being heels will still exhibit some heel characteristics. For example, in TNA, The Naturals, though they turned face after the death of manager Chris Candido, sometimes still used the ropes for pins and used the megaphone of former manager Jimmy Hart to gain victories. Kurt Angle is also a good example; even after turning face for his feud with Mark Henry, at the 2006 Royal Rumble, Angle used a steel chair, an exposed steel ring peg, and leverage from the ropes during his pin to get the victory over Henry.

Examples

While behaving as a heel is often part of a wrestler's gimmick, many successful heels fall into one or more categories:

Crazy heel

Definition: A raging madman, dangerous and unpredictable - may attack others for no apparent reason, or blame others for being "held back" from championship opportunities and other privileges. Sometimes psychotic behaviour is displayed.

• Rowdy Roddy Piper
• The Sheik
• George "The Animal" Steele
• Brian Pillman (loose cannon gimmick)
• Johnny Nitro - early 2007
• Luna Vachon
• Victoria
• Mickie James - Early to mid 2006
• Sid Vicious
• Stone Cold Steve Austin - 2001
• Mankind - 1995 to 1998
• Abdullah the Butcher
• Billy Kidman
• Heidenreich
• Kane
• Bruiser Brody
• TARU
• Edge - late 2004 to mid 2005 and mid 2007
• Eddie Guerrero - mid 2005
• Chris Benoit - mid 2002
• Abyss
• Raven
• Snitsky
• Chris Jericho - mid 2001
• Kurt Angle - mid 2004
• Sabu - in ECW
• Jillian Hall - first heel run in WWE.

Comic heel

Definition: A person with a dark comic gimmick.

• Kurt Angle
• Edge and Christian
• Adrian Street
• Randy Savage (as Macho King)
• King Booker
• Vince McMahon
• Eddie Guerrero
• Right to Censor
• John Cena
• Hornswoggle
• Molly Holly - 2002 to 2004
• Rico
• Jonathan Coachman
• The Rock - 2003
• Al Snow
• Doink the Clown
• Matt Striker
• Alex Shelley
• Jillian Hall - second heel run in WWE
• Santino Marella

Monster heel

Definition: An unstoppable juggernaut who squashes his or her opponents.

• Gorilla Monsoon
• Yokozuna
• Umaga
• Big Van Vader (1994)
• Sylvester Terkay
• King Kong Bundy
• The Great Khali
• Kane
• Big Show
• The Undertaker
• Brock Lesnar
• Snitsky
• Batista
• Aja Kong
• Bull Nakano
• Naoya Ogawa
• Test
• Mark Henry
• Samoa Joe
• Abyss
• Shaniqua
• The Esperanza
• Awesome Kong

Facts

Sometimes, monster heels violently "injure" other wrestlers (sometimes through rulebreaking tactics), terrorize valets (injuring them on occasion), and commit other extremely heinous acts in order to set up a feud with a promotion's lead face. One example is the feud between The Giant and Hulk Hogan in 1995 when The Giant broke Hogan's neck. Another example is when The Undertaker was behind a reign of terror that led to his feud with Steve Austin in 1999. Also, during Kane's heel runs, he often targeted innocent people such as Jim Ross, Linda McMahon, and Lilian Garcia.

Egotistical heel

Definition: An obnoxious and self-important character who is arrogant or cocky; some wrestlers play on their own fame, achievements, or good looks.

• "Macho Man" Randy Savage
• Ted DiBiase
• Randy Orton
• Ric Flair
• Hollywood Hogan - 1996 to 2000
• Shawn Michaels
• Jimmy Garvin
• Vince McMahon
• Bryan Danielson
• The Rock
• Minoru Suzuki
• Rick "The Model" Martel
• Sensational Sherri
• Gino Hernandez
• Triple H
• Brock Lesnar - late 2003 to 2004
• D'Lo Brown
• Jeff Jarrett
• Chris Sabin - late 2006 to early 2007
• Rob Van Dam
• Chavo Guerrero
• Edge
• A.J. Styles - 2007
• Christian Cage
• Chris Masters
• Robert Roode
• John Cena - late 2002 to mid 2003
• Alex Shelley
• Monty Brown
• Kurt Angle
• Dawn Marie
• Torrie Wilson
• Melina
• Sable
• Trish Stratus
• JBL
• Batista
• Shelton Benjamin
• Montel Vontavious Porter
• Chris Jericho
• Chris Benoit
• Booker T
• Ken Kennedy
• Candice Michelle - surrounding the release of her Playboy cover
• Michelle McCool
• Jillian Hall
• Gregory Helms
• Kristal Marshall
• MNM and their individual members
• La Résistance and their individual members
• Mike "The Miz" Mizanin

Popular heel

Definition: a term in which the fans cheer for a wrestler who competes as a heel.

• Steve Austin
• Edge
• "Macho Man" Randy Savage
• Shawn Michaels
• Chris Benoit
• Kevin Nash
• Scott Hall
• The Road Warriors
• Mickie James
• Chris Adams
• Kurt Angle
• Ric Flair
• Sting
• Kane
• Monty Brown
• The Undertaker
• D'Lo Brown
• The Rock
• Rob Van Dam
• Trish Stratus
• Mick Foley
• Mr. Kennedy
• Batista
• Triple H
• Eddie Guerrero
• John Bradshaw Layfield
• Christian Cage
• Rob Van Dam
• Latin American Exchange
• Randy Orton
• John Cena
• Alex Shelley
• Fit Finlay
• A.J. Styles

Facts

The Road Warriors, originally booed by the fans, gained new fans worldwide and eventually became faces around 1985 after they lost the AWA World Tag Team title to the team of Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal due to interference by the Fabulous Freebirds.

Chris Adams was booed heavily when facing any of the Von Erichs, but was wildly cheered when wrestling other heels during his September 1984-January 1986 heel run; Adams would still greet fans afterwards and sign autographs. He eventually became Texas' most popular wrestler after turning face in 1986, and the 5th most popular wrestler in the world overall by 1987.

Shawn Michaels is cheered by the fans in show of respect, as well as his "HeartBreak Kid" persona (except in Canada). Triple H is extremely popular despite displaying classic heel tactics and is cheered upon appearing.

Kurt Angle is widely considered as having been a heel for most of his career, but he wrestled a number of the best technical matches in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was often cheered out of respect.

Chants of "wooooooo" always echoed during Ric Flair's entrance even though he was a heel member of the Four Horsemen and Evolution.

Kane has also received cheers upon appearing or when delivering his chokeslam finisher, despite being a morbid and violent character.

The Undertaker has a large following despite his tendency to rough up opponents after a match has ended, especially if he is the loser.

The Rock is also frequently cheered (most notably at WrestleMania XIX) whether he's a face or heel, in large part due to his natural charisma.

Delinquent heel

Definition: A troublesome and disrespectful character who verbally and visually displays uncivilized conduct such as profanity, vandalism, violence and associated "criminal" behaviour. Sometimes the wrestler will harass or bully opponents and rebel against authority.

• Wrestlers
  • Steve Austin
  • Diesel
  • Brian Pillman
  • John Cena
  • Rodney Mack
  • Jazz
  • Carlito
  • Sting - early career and briefly in 1999
  • The Rock - during his run as the leader of NOD
  • The Undertaker - in his Big Evil persona during the first half of 2002
  • Edge & Lita's "Rated-R Superstar" gimmick
  • Akira Maeda
  • Cactus Jack
  • SUWA
  • Super Dragon

• Tag Teams
  • The Road Warriors
  • The Nasty Boyz
  • APA
  • Three Minute Warning
  • Los Guerreros
  • The Two-Man Power Trip

• Stables
  • nWo
  • D-Generation X
  • Mean Street Posse
  • DOA
  • Los Boricuas
  • Voodoo Murderers
  • Latin American Exchange

Foreign heel

Definition: in United States wrestling, foreign heels are often portrayed as being anti-American

• Russians
  • Nikolai Volkoff
  • Nikita Koloff
  • Ivan Koloff
  • Vladimir Kozlov

• Iranians
  • Iron Sheik
  • Muhammad Hassan
  • Khosrow Daivari

• Canadians
  • Bret "the Hitman" Hart
  • Owen Hart
  • Christian
  • Edge
  • Test
  • Lance Storm
  • Team Canada

• Japanese
  • Kai En Tai
  • Mr. Fuji
  • Yokozuna

• Latin Americans
  • Latin American Exchange

• French
  • René Duprée

• Arab
  • Muhammad Hassan
  • Sheik Abdul Bashir

In Mexican wrestling, Americans are often portrayed as heels; the most hated tag team in lucha libre history, Los Gringos Locos, consisted of the Caucasian Art Barr and Eddie Guerrero (a Mexican-American from El Paso), along with another Caucasian, Louie Spicolli.

Traitor heel

Definition: In the United States, a variation on the foreign heel gimmick - a wrestler who is actually an American, but has turned his back on his country in favor of an (ostensibly superior) one.

• Rob Conway portrayed a man who defected from America to France (a nation that opposed the U.S.'s invasion of Iraq in 2003)
• Sgt. Slaughter was billed as an Iraqi sympathizer during the first Persian Gulf War
• Brian Pillman and Jim Neidhart, who despite being American, sided with Canadians Bret Hart and Owen Hart and Englishman the British Bulldog in the pro-Canada Hart Foundation
• Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari as angry Arab-Americans who resent the U.S. for how they've been treated ever since 9/11
• Jim Duggan's brief heel turn in WCW where he joined Lance Storm's Canadian Stable

In Japanese wrestling, a "traitor heel" is someone who goes against the established (usually mainstream, babyface) group he was part of within a promotion, such as:

• Riki Chōshū
• Masa Chono
• Kensuke Sasaki
• Great Muta in New Japan Pro Wrestling
• Yoji Anjoh in UWF International
• Genichiro Tenryu in All Japan Pro Wrestling.

They could be considered more properly as delinquent/rebel heels, but because of Japan's societal mores, delinquent wrestlers are more often seen by Japanese fans as "traitors" to the promotion.

No matter the type of heel, the most important job is that of the antagonist role. Heels exist to provide a foil to the babyface wrestlers. If a given heel is cheered over the face, a promoter may opt to turn that heel to face, or to make the wrestler do something even more despicable.

Female heels in wrestling have tended to lean toward the stereotype of a woman with loose morals, both in style of dress and in attitude (this was particularly true of the heel divas in ECW, such as Francine and Dawn Marie).

In recent years, notably in the WWE, female heels have tended to display unpleasant, prima donna-like personalities towards fans and opposing divas and wrestlers. They have often interfered in matches and attacked opponents from behind without provocation. Examples include Stephanie McMahon, Lita, Melina, Candice Michelle, and former wrestler Trish Stratus, all of whom have been heavily jeered.

Many heels today subscribe to the beliefs espoused by Mick Foley in his autobiography, Have a Nice Day!: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks — that a heel must always believe that whatever they do is justified, and that they are in the right.

Common heel tactics

The tactics of a kayfabe heel were perhaps best summed up by Jesse Ventura's famous quote: "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat." However, it can backfire and eventually lead to the heel's defeat. Such tactics include:

• Using the ropes or grabbing the opponent's tights during pinfalls.
• Sticking thumbs, throwing powder/salt, or spitting foreign substances into an opponent's eyes.
• Removing the padding on turnbuckles to expose the steel underneath it, then smashing an opponent's head, face, or body onto it. During a steel cage match, smashing the opponent's face or body into the mesh also counts.
• Use of concealed weapons (brass knuckles, rolls of coins, etc.). Some heels are less subtle when deciding to use a weapon, sometimes grabbing a chair from ringside in full view of the referee with no regard for the consequences.
• Dragging an opponent's face across the top rope.
• Low blows. Hard legal tactics, such as shoot kicks to the face, may also count if done repeatedly and with the intention to make the face wrestler look weak.
• Utilizing an "arrogant pin," such as posing for or mocking the crowd while making a clearly ineffective pinfall attempt.
• Holding a forearm down on an opponent's face during a pinfall attempt.
• Lifting an opponent off the mat during a seemingly effective pinfall attempt (generally by pulling the opponent's hair) in order to continue the match (and to continue "beating up" on the opponent).
• Bringing a valet, manager, or another wrestler to the ring who helps the heel with cheating.
• Using the outside of the ring to rest, or ducking into the ropes to slow the match down.
• When defending titles, intentionally getting himself/herself disqualified or counted out to lose the match without dropping the title that the wrestler is defending.
• Insulting the fans or mocking the city in which he or she is performing during promos. Heels might also mock local sports teams who have suffered disappointing results.
• Assaulting the opponent after a match, or interfere in a rival's match in an attempt to cost them the win.
• Purposely getting themselves counted out in order to avoid a clear pinfall loss.

Despite all the information given above, a face can also use some of these heel tactics as well as a form of counterattacking.

See also

• Face